From a single 12-hour channel in 1985, M-Net has grown into one of the largest private subscription television services in Africa, with over 2.5 million subscribers in forty-one countries.

Our “Forever Magic” campaign rolled out in print and outdoor media and on the M-Net Facebook page during M-Net’s birthday month, and featured some of South Africa’s biggest stars from the small screen in glamorous Vanity Fair style.

The shoot took place in Johannesburg’s Old Park Station – the perfect stark backdrop to the beautiful designs worn by the celebrities, courtesy of some of South Africa’s top designers. Jodie Ennik, a truly talented stylist, transformed these local TV personalities into superstars of an international caliber.  

It was a very challenging shoot: managing tons of people (including TV stars and a full cast of models chosen to resemble the real stars in skin colour, height and size to test set lighting), juggling the limited amount of time we had with the stars, accommodating a TV crew filming a promo of the event, and interviewing the stars to populate content for the M-Net website. However, our amazing photographer, David Prior, managed to pull off something truly incredible, and the light and composition of the shots allowed us to rely on minimal retouching post-production. I must say, it was really a fantastic experience working with all that talent. 

Here's the final shot.

And some views from behind the scenes.

Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg
Client: M-Net
Executive Creative Director: Fran Luckin
Creative Director: Robyn Bergmann, Mariana O Kelly
Art Director: Michele De Iuliis
Stylist: Jodie Ennik
Photographer: David Prior
Copywriter: Amy Searll